Investing.com – U.S. futures were higher on Thursday, as trade war tensions eased after news that China and the U.S. are in trade talks.
The S&P 500 futures rose 6 points or 0.22% to 2,704.5 as of 6:45 AM ET (11:45 GMT) while Dow futures were up 55 points, or 0.22%, to 25,099.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 35 points, or 0.52%, to 6,803.75.
China and the U.S. have resumed talks on trade, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said in Beijing. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet at the G20 summit later this month.
Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) systems was among the top gainers in premarket trading, jumping 5% after the company beat estimates for quarterly revenue and profit and provided a better-than-expected guidance for fiscal second-quarter revenue. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 0.17% while AMD increased 1.39% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched up 0.65%.
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) gained almost 2% after a regulatory filing showed that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) had a $4.02 billion stake in the bank.
Elsewhere, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) inched down 0.29% while Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) dipped 1.32% and Carnival (NYSE:CCL) fell 0.76%.
In economic news, retail sales are released at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT). Weekly jobless claims, import prices, and manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia and New York regions are also on the agenda.
Investors are also looking ahead to comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in Houston, Texas at 11:30 AM ET (16:30 GMT). On Wednesday Powell said the U.S. economy was strong and indicated that the central bank will continue to raise rates in 2019, albeit at a gradual pace.
In commodities, gold futures surged 1.02% to $1,211.40 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.14% to $56.16 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.38% to 97.03.